Bree Walker's Olympic Monobob Medal Ambitions Derailed in Cortina
In a heartbreaking turn of events, Australian bobsledder Bree Walker saw her monobob medal hopes evaporate in less than ten seconds at the Milan-Cortina Olympic Games. The world number two, who arrived in Italy as a strong favourite with an impressive World Cup record, was unable to translate her sizzling form to the Olympic stage, ultimately finishing in eighth place.
Early Errors Prove Costly for Australian Speedster
Walker, a 33-year-old former 400m hurdler, entered the competition with high expectations after securing five World Cup medals this season, including three victories, and a bronze in the test event at Cortina last year. However, the monobob event, decided over four cumulative runs, quickly turned against her. Some critical errors in the tricky top section of her first run left her significantly behind the leaders, effectively ending her medal contention early on.
By the second check-point of that initial run, her time of 9.95 seconds ranked only 12th fastest in the 25-strong field. She completed the run 0.75 seconds off the race leader, placing 11th. Although she managed to climb to seventh after the second run on the first day of competition, record-breaking performances at the Cortina Sliding Centre made it impossible to close the gap in the final two runs.
Frustration and Reflection from Walker
"I've been having troubles here all week and it's been very frustrating, especially because I feel like I know what I need to do and sometimes certain things don't come together," Walker said after the event. "Coming off a season where I've improved a lot in my driving and my start, and I improved a lot as an athlete, I was ready to come here and race, but the track got the better of me and that is the result and I have to live with it."
She expressed particular disappointment with her performance on key corners, noting that the rest of the track suited her driving style. "The issues that I was having was on the corners that mattered the most, which is really heartbreaking because the rest of the track, I felt like the track really suited my style of driving."
Strong Performances from Veterans on the Podium
In contrast to Walker's struggles, the podium featured seasoned veterans. American Elana Meyers Taylor, aged 41, finally claimed gold after earning five Olympic medals previously, including a silver in the monobob's debut in 2022. She overhauled world number one Laura Nolte in the final run, winning by a mere 0.04 seconds after the German had led throughout the competition.
Defending champion Kaillie Humphries, 40, competing in her sixth Olympics, added a bronze to her collection of five medals. Both Meyers Taylor and Humphries posted a time of 59.08 seconds in the third run, eclipsing the track record set minutes earlier by Nolte.
Walker's Late Rally and Future Prospects
Walker did show flashes of her potential, recording her best run of the competition in the third run with a time of 59.60 seconds, going under a minute for the first time. However, she still faced issues with the top turns, catching the inside wall and tapping it multiple times, which cost her crucial time. Despite a solid fourth run of 59.69 seconds, she finished 1.56 seconds off the overall pace.
Looking ahead, Walker will get another chance to compete, teaming up with Kiara Reddingius in the two-woman bobsleigh event scheduled for February 20. "It's obviously heartbreaking, but there is a lot of learnings and I'm just going to take all those learnings into the two-man next week," she said. "I said to Kiara when I crossed the line, 'Alright, that's done, on to the two-man'. I'm just going to go out there and work as hard as I can to hopefully have our best result as our two-man season's been pretty hard this year but we're Aussies and we don't give up."
This result marks a step back from her fifth-place finish in Beijing four years ago, where a similar opening run issue proved costly. As the Australian team regroups, all eyes will be on Walker's resilience and determination in the upcoming two-woman event.
